Salvaging The Wrecks
Posted on Mon May 13th, 2024 @ 7:45am by Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro" & Captain Akeno Misaki & Lieutenant Commander Raelyn Mckenzie & Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson & Lieutenant Ileah & Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok & Lieutenant JG Patra Rommel & Lieutenant Justin Specter
Edited on on Sun Jul 7th, 2024 @ 6:31pm
Mission: Return to Tyra
The Wayfarer sat in the middle of the debris field. The Intrepid Class Starship had been sending out shuttles and salvage teams for the last four hours. The crew of the Wayfarer were hard at work, from storing salvage componants to retrieving the bodies of their fallen officers.
[Ready Room]
Akeno stood staring out of the windows of her ready room. It must have been awful to die out there in the darkness of space. No one could hear you if you were blasted out of the ship, and you had no chance of survival once you lost the oxygen from your lungs. It would also have been slow and painful. The only grace from it was that the vacuum of space preserved your body, so if someone did happen to find you there would be no decay and you could be easily identified.
She shook her head, trying to get that thought out of her head. It wasn't nice to think about how many people were killed and their bodies were now floating inside the wrecks around them. All of them had once dreams, aspirations, people they loved, people who loved them. Now they were just floating in the silent vaccum of space, some may never be retrieved.
Akeno finally turned away from the windows and made her way to the replicator. She felt physically sick thinking about all those people out there. Eventually she settled in a cup of tea. She began to pace the room restlessly, she couldn't settle. "Ah screw it," She said finally. With the tea in her hand she left her ready room and walked out onto the bridge.
[Bridge]
"Status report," Akeno said before she took a sip of her tea.
"Commander Munetani's team just radioed in a few minutes ago and report that they've managed to recover all items of interest from the Perch and will be on their way to inspect the Phoebe next,," a Lieutenant manning the Ops console reported. "Lieutenant Qarud's team have begun salvage operations on board the Keller, while Lieutenant Ileah's shuttle is currently making a run out to the Atlantic."
"Good..." Akeno said as she began to wander idly towards her chair.
"Something on your mind, Captain?" the Ops Officer inquired, observing the look of apprehension that lingered in Akeno's expression.
"It's nothing." Akeno replied before she sat down in her chair and opened the command console between the two command chairs.
[Type 8 Shuttlecraft]
Petra piloted the shuttle with her team towards the wreckage of the USS Atlantic that was in a slow death spiral over Tyra II. She was not sure if Lieutenant Ileah or Ensign Céilid suspected Petra real mission or not, after all they were the only team to bring on a suitcase like device. Suddenly her sensor began to beep, there was a small unidentified ship making its way toward the shuttle. "Lieutenant Ileah, is the IFF of that small ship a Federation fighter?" Petra inquired; her worse fear being realized.
"Not an Englishman" Soectre voice replied.
"It is a foe." Ileah announced. "Spooky coded over open channel, consider the blip hostile."
[Wayfarer- Bridge]
"Captain, sensors are detecting movement within the immediate vicinity of Lieutenant Ileah's shuttle," the Ops officer reported. "None of our shuttles are even remotely nearby; should we attempt to radio them and see if they're doing okay?"
"Radio... You mean hail right?" Akeno asked. She shook her head. "Can you get a fix on it?"
The Ops officer pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Yes, I mean hail them."
"Let's identify what's out there first," Akeno said. "It could be a bit of debris that's been disturbed. Full sensor sweeps," she ordered.
"Aye, Captain," The Ops Officer nodded in the affirmative.
[Wayfarer - Cargo Bay]
Mark kept supervising the cargo bay, getting his personnel ready for the incoming bodies.
"We should start ...piling...them starting from that area" he said in a low voice poiinting towards the extreme far side of the bay. "It will be easier to handle them and the various teams can start recognition of the savaged bodies".
A couple of nurses, appointed to handle the different medical teams, nodded and took notes of the Chief Medical Officer's directives.
"Another thing" Mark pondered before speaking "We should briefly test the bodies for radiations before letting anyone near them without a proper shielding. Space is full of unwanted radiations and threats of any sort. Those bodies out there could have attracted all sort of things and now we are taking those things onboard with us. Everyone pay extreme attention. Everyone working in here should wear full anti-contamination suits and we need to seal every body we find. Once the bodies are perfectly sealed, that crewmember can be considered safe to be around to."
Everyone nodded once again, some low chit chatting arose.
"We'll consider this area as a contaminated area from the first moment in which anything coming from the outside will enter this cargo bay, till we finsh the decontamination procedure. Noone is allowed in or out during this period. I'm gonna let the captain know as soon as we're over with this meeting. Anyone got questions?"
Nobody spoke up.
"Alright then, let's get moving" he smiled as his people wandered off prepare for the incoming task while Mark notified the bridge and the captain of the status of the cargo bay and it's actual workers.
[Bridge]
"I'm getting some readings back from the sensors," the Ops Officer reported. "The anomaly's definitely on the move, and the very precise patterns of movement would appear to indicate that we're looking at some sort of manned spacecraft, rather than a derelict."
"I'm going to need better than that..." Akeno said. "We've got people out there."
"I may be able to cross-reference the signal with all other ships currently listed in our database," The Ops Officer proposed. "Let me run a quick scan here..."
His console chirped.
"I've got a match, Captain," the Ops Officer reported. "The signal appears to be consistent with a..."
his voice abruptly trailed off as he stared blankly down at the console, his complexion visibly paling as he checked and re-checked the signal to make sure this wasn't a mistake.
"Yes...?" Akeno asked.
The Ops Officer glanced over his shoulder. "The signal is consistent with a... Jem'Hadar Attack Ship, Captain; Heavy Fighter Type."
There was a brief pause before wartime instincts kicked in and the whole bridge erupted in a tizzy, with officers scurrying frantically to their stations and readying the Wayfarer for the inevitable firefight before Akeno had even had the chance to give them the order.
"Sounding the red alert, Captain!"
"Shields raised, Captain!"
"Phasers primed, Captain!"
"Should we recall the shuttles, Captain?!"
Akeno sat there staring at the screen, it was like her eyes were glazed over. The sounds on the bridge around her seemed to be nothing but dull background noise as a few beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. Her grip on the arms of her chair tightened and she began to breathe a lot heavier.
"...Captain? Captain!"
A voice; distant, hollow, barely distinguishable amidst the clamor of everything that going on around her; she knew that one of the bridge officers was calling out to her, but in her stupor she was unable to formulate a response.
Suddenly, she felt a pair of hands placed firmly on her shoulders.
"Captain!!!"
She glanced up; it was the Ops Officer, a look of concern on his face.
"Are you alright?! Is something the matter?!?! Do we need to run you down to sickbay-?!?!?!"
Akeno came back to her senses. She stood up immediately. "I'm OK." She said simply. "Tell the shuttles to hide. Tell them we have potential hostiles incoming."
"Open a channel to that Dominion ship." She ordered.
Commander McKenzie tapped a few buttons to open a channel while getting a target lock on the Jem'Hadar vessel. Akeno hadn't given that order yet, but it was the Dominion. She knew what they were capable of. She wouldn't fire until Akeno gave the order however. "Channel open Captain. I have a target lock. I won't fire until you give the order" she wouldn't allow herself to be unprepared. She couldn't have the Sovereign happen all over again.
"Dominion Vessel. This is Captain Akeno Misaki of the Federation Starsh..." she didn't get a chance to finish as the Wayfarer shook from the impact of weapons fire.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Akeno ordered. "Fire phasers to disable!"
Raelyn mashed her fingers down on the console and began repeatedly firing on the attack ship on it's engines. "Firing, Captain."
The Wayfarer was hit with barrage after barrage of weapons fire. Several consoles on the bridge showered the crew in sparks. "Send a coded message to our away teams. Tell them to meet us in the debris field and redock when they can!" Akeno ordered.
The Wayfarer shook violently again causing a console at the rear of the bridge to explode. "Luna! Take us into the wrecks! Time for some fancy flying!"
"reH ghItlh ngoQ! [Worthless piles of dung!] bIlugh Gre'Thor QI'yaH! [You'll rot in hell for this!]" Luna howled with rage as her hands flew across the console.
[Wayfarer - Cargo Bay]
As the CMO oversaw the last bits of the preparation, the ship shook abruptly. "The hell?" he cursed, reaching for the comm badge
"Bridge from Cargo Bay, this is doctor Johnson, what's going on?" he asked.
"We're under attack. Report to your stations," Akeno answered as the Wayfarer dived and weaved between the wrecks of the destroyed starships.
Mark frowned.
"Ok, everyone, we are under attack. Everyone back to sickbay to handle possible casualties. I'll be there in a moment"
Said so, he left headed for his posting in sickbay, hoping very few crew members would need his help.
[Bridge]
The Wayfarer ducked and weaved amongst the wrecks. The Jem'Hadar ship in close pursuit. Eventually the Intrepid Class managed to lose them.
"Cut all power." Akeno ordered. "Let's go to silent running."
"Aye, Captain," Luna was still fuming, so her voice was as brittle and as cold as ice.
[Type 8 Shuttlecraft]
"Crap, shields up and be ready. I think we are about to be visited by a Jem'Hadar fighter hell bent on destroying us." With that Petra slammed on the thrusters making her way as fast as the shuttle could travel to the USS Atlantic. Everyone was pushed back in their seats from the thruster blast, Petra dodging the debris she flew in.
"This is not a return trajectory." Ileah stated, not mincing words. "Is that wise if the said fighter is focused on 'Us?"
To be continued...
